Review Archive

There’s a rare and precious feeling of intimacy that comes with Téada’s music. The tireless vivacity, engaging fervour, enduring passion and distinctive personal edge to contemporary and traditional tunesmakes you feel the band are with you in the room. The depth of Ireland’s abundant musical heritage is once again explored through their latest album 'Ainneoin na stoirme' / 'In spite of the storm'.Téada take you along older established roads while forging new untrod paths. It’s a musical journey that offers the warm familiarity of creased armchairs and glass-ringed tables but also the freshness of early-morning walks through mist on a hillside.

Sheer vitality and pure depth of feeling pours from every jig, reel and slide from ‘Dinny O’Brien’s/The Sweetheart Reel/Paddy Kenny’s’ through ‘Dealai’s No.1&2/ The Peeler and the Goat’ to the superb ‘The Jig of the Dead/I Have a House of My Own with a Chimney Built on Top of it/ Paddy Breen’s/The Bird’s Call’. The songs inspire an elusive assignation all of their own as Séamus Begley’s entrancing vocals hold you in their sway, from 18th century Ireland with ‘An Spailpin Fanach’ to an interpretation of ‘Saddle Tramp’ by Marty Robbins.

This music is a living breathing entity that wraps around you, it’s a fair country that welcomes you back home and offers that precious essence of cultural roots that we all need. Or perhaps it’s just my Irish ancestors calling to me. Wherever your forefathers lie you can shelter with Téada 'Ainneoin na stoirme' / 'In spite of the storm'.